Site Mobile Navigation

Dr. Morris Bender, 78; Expert on Brain Tumors

This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996.
To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them.

Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems.
Please send reports of such problems to archive_feedback@nytimes.com.

January 27, 1983, Page 00025 The New York Times Archives

Dr. Morris Bender, a neurologist who was among the first to assert that brain tumors could be treated without surgery, died Sunday at Presbyterian Hospital after suffering a heart attack. He was 78 years old and lived in Great Neck, L.I.

Much of Dr. Bender's research focused on ocular motor systems.

His work in this area clarified how the brain sends signals that move the eye and this led to an improved treatment of brain tumors. He is also credited with developing a test that detects lesions on certain parts of the spinal cord.

Dr. Bender was born in Uman, Russia. He became a neurological resident at Mount Sinai Medical Center in 1933. In 1951, he was named director of the neurology department.

He is survivied by his wife, Sarah; two daughters, Barbara Steiner and Dr. Leila Laitman, and three sons, Dr. Adam Bender, Barnaby Bender and Victor Bender.

A version of this obituary appears in print on January 27, 1983, on Page D00025 of the National edition with the headline: Dr. Morris Bender, 78; Expert on Brain Tumors. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe